A/N: This will be the only chapter today sadly, but it is slightly longer than normal. Thank you all for the continuous support, it means a lot to me. With that being said, I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finishing up writing down the strange info, Topaz puts his scroll away and grabs his rock. Leaping back to the tree, Topaz measures up the branch he is looking into cutting down. After a little bit, he takes the rock, and slams it into the weakest portion of the branch. Seeing a crack begin to form where he is hitting, Topaz continues to use the rock to smash into the branch. After almost thirty minutes of smashing the rock against the tree, the branch finally separates from the main branch. Catching the branch before it falls into the lava below, Topaz smiles and leaps back onto land. Wiping the layer of sweat off of his forehead, Topaz makes his way out of the lava pits to find water to clean himself up. Eventually finding a small creek, Topaz cleans himself up and relaxes for the afternoon. Munching on some jerky his father had packed for him, Topaz takes in the desert surroundings. Finishing his jerky, Topaz grabs the branch and looks it over. He sees that where the branch had glowed a bright orange while still connected to the tree was now a dull gray. Deciding he was rested enough, Topaz makes his way back to the lava pits to attempt to search for the forge. Along the way he hears voices coming from a large rock formation near him. Hearing the Nemea tribe mentioned, he pulls out his scroll and begins recording.
????: "Let's go over the plan once more."
????: "Fine, but this is the final time. We have been paid to attack one of the Nemean tribe challenge participants. The one with the blonde hair named Topaz. Apparently, the old chief and him have bad blood."
????: "Dead or Alive?"
????: "If we can take him alive, we should, but if we can't a corpse works just as fine."
????: "Dead it is, we can always say he put up a fight."
Topaz raises an eyebrow at their plan, and smiles as he puts his scroll away. Quietly making his way over to the rock formation, he climbs up and sees four men standing there conversing. All four of them have large ears standing on top of their heads. (A/N: I was picturing a fennec fox with the ears) Topaz grabs a small rock and tosses it across the rock formation, when it lands it makes a noticeable noise. All four sets of ears shift to the direction the noise came from. Topaz grabs a few more rocks and tosses them at the four men. Two of them take a direct hit and go down, another takes a glancing blow to the side of his head but stays standing, and the final was able to dodge at just the right moment. The two still standing turn and face Topaz with raw hatred on their faces.
????: "Who do you think you are! Attacking us from out of nowhere."
Topaz: "I mean, you're planning on attacking me, so it was self-defense."
????: "Ah, but you can't prove that. And since you threw the first punch, metaphorically speaking, us killing you will be self-defense."
Topaz: "Whatever you say. You have to actually take me down first though."
????: "You damn brat!"
The uninjured man lunges towards Topaz, pulling out two daggers and slashing towards Topaz's chest. The injured man tries to follow after but he stumbles and falls to the ground, the wound on his head doing more damage than he thought. Topaz dodges the first man's strike and punches the man in his right arm, causing him to drop one of his daggers. Using that to his advantage, Topaz rushes the man and feints a punch towards the mans right, before kicking him in his ribs on his left side. The man, completely falling for he feint, raises his lone dagger to the left to block the punch, only to be kicked in his ribs. Hearing a crack, Topaz presses on once again and disarms the man completely. Topaz now stands before the two men, one of which is holding his ribs, the other is kneeling on the ground bleeding from the wound on his head. Topaz prepares for another attack, but before he can do anything, he hears footsteps on the sand behind him. Rolling away, he sees Emma run past him and watches her punch the man standing in the jaw, knocking him out in an instant. She rounds on the man on the ground, pulls out a knife and presses it against his throat.
Emma: "Why are you here. This is a sacred task to our tribe and your tribe has sworn to avoid the area when we are using it."
????: "Ask your old chief bitch."
Emma: "Fine then, sleep well."
Emma kicks the man in the temple and knocks him out cold. She turns to look at Topaz with both disdain and admiration in her eyes. The different looks threw Topaz off for a moment.
Emma: "Are you alright?"
Topaz: "Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing here?"
Emma: "I was speaking with your father when one of our scouts reported seeing another tribe's warriors out in the area. I was tasked to find out why they were here, and happened to catch their scent around this area. Following it, I saw you take down the two and fight the others. You handle yourself well for someone who wasn't raised in the tribe."
Topaz: "Uh, thanks? Here, listen to this. They pretty much revealed their entire plan to me without realizing I was there."
As the recording played, Emma's face grew more and more frustrated as the message went on. When she heard that it was Topaz's grandfather that hired the men to kill Topaz, she looked devastated.
Topaz: "Hey, you ok?"
Emma: "I don't know honestly. Growing up, I always saw your grandfather as the ultimate figure. He was always strong when he needed to be, but compassionate when strength wasn't needed. Hearing that he attempted to interrupt a sacred challenge of our tribe throws me off."
Topaz: "Behind doors, he wasn't the man you think he is, at least to me he isn't."
Emma: "What do you mean?"
Topaz: "When I was five, he first found out I existed when he barged into my parent's home. His immediate plan was to have my father either kill me or my mother, but later changed it so I would be forced to leave the tribe with my memories wiped. Mom told me my memories were supposed to return when I turned sixteen, but I only got them back recently. I lived for thirteen years without knowing who my parents were, or what my past held. The day my memories came back is a day I'd like to forget entirely too. On that day the school I was attending was attacked by people leading grimm. Too many of my friends were hurt in the attack, and then my memories returned, causing my mind to overload and knocking me unconscious for a while. Then I return here, finally see my family and have my grandfather try and kill me for wanting a better life for my family."
Emma stares at Topaz with wide eyes at his story. She looks at him and gives him a sympathetic smile.
Emma: "I'm sorry."
Topaz: "Don't be, it wasn't your fault."
Emma: "But the way I treated you this morning was horrible. I listened to what your grandfather said without a second thought and yet you still make sure I'm ok after hearing everything."
Topaz: "Believe me, I've been treated much worse."
Emma: "But-"
Topaz: "No buts, you're fine. I promise."
Emma: "Okay…"
Topaz hands her his scroll.
Topaz: "Take this to my father, without my grandfather finding out. Tell him not to take any action until the challenge is over. I should be back fairly quickly all things considered."
Emma: "What do you mean quickly? It almost took me the three full days to find material I was comfortable with for my spear."
Topaz: "Well I got lucky, I guess. The alpha deathworm dropped a tooth that I plan to use for the spearhead, and I was able to get a decent branch from the massive tree growing in the middle of the largest lava pit."
Emma: "You were able to break a branch from the metalian tree? How? It's been said to be one of the toughest materials on Menagerie."
Topaz: "I smashed it with a rock."
Emma: "What?"
Topaz: "I said, I smashed it with a rock."
Emma: "That's it?"
Topaz: "Yep, I just continued to smack this rock here against it before breaking a piece off."
Topaz holds up the rock he used, which he kept for no reason other than it looked cool. Emma's eyes go wide yet again when she saw it.
Emma: "That… That's an adamantium ore bit. How on Remnant did you get it?"
Topaz: "It was just lying there next to the lava."
Emma: "Did you fight any firewalkers?"
Topaz: "Firewalkers?"
Emma: "The grimm that come from the lava pits."
Topaz: "Ooohhh. Yes, I had fought a lone one before finding the rock. Why?"
Emma: "It's been said that firewalkers will sometimes carry adamantium ore on them, or have it imbedded in their skin. But no one in the tribe has seen it in generations."
Topaz: "Sweet, I might have to use it for a knife or something than."
Emma: "Make sure to focus on the spear first. There are stories of some of the challengers not focusing on the main task of their coming of age challenge and the brothers punishing them."
Topaz: "Fine, I'll finish the spear and the challenge before doing anything else. Here, take the ore with you when you visit my father."
Emma: "You're just going to trust me with something this valuable?"
Topaz: "Eh, I don't really care about its value, or the challenge to be honest. I just want to do my best to give my family their freedom from the tribe."
Emma: "If you say so, I will be with your family when you return. Do your best."
Topaz: "I got this, don't worry."
Topaz watches as Emma runs off to the west, making her way back to the village. Taking a deep breath, Topaz turns back to the lava pits to begin searching for the ancient forge.